BEAT 1431 CAPS
Meeting Minutes
May 5th, 2005

The next meeting is scheduled for June 2nd, 2005, 7:00 pm at the 14th District Police Station, 2150 N. California.

Officers Present: PO Crawford, Mr. Bernath and Liz Rios from the 14th District Community Policing.

General Announcements

1) There was only one 1431 Beat officer in attendance at this meeting.
2) Burglaries were down from 16 to 4 over the last month.
3) Arrests were up (mainly in Section 1) and will likely continue to go up in the entire beat as the weather gets warmer.
4) Drinking alcohol in a parked car is illegal. Please call 911 if you see any public display of drinking and the offenders should be arrested.
5) Calls to 911 are extremely important. The police remain unaware of the crimes unless people report them.
When calling 911 and offering descriptions of the offenders, try to also clearly identify what kind of shoes they are wearing. These are often articles of clothing that are the least likely to change.
NOTE: Gang members own police scanners. If you wish to protect your name and address from being revealed in a police dispatch you can 1) request to remain anonymous and 2) tell the dispatcher to send the dispatch directly to the car computers of the intended officers and not via radio.
6) Liz Rios mentioned numerous upcoming Beat events. For more information on the following events, please contact Liz at the 14th District Police Station at 312-747-0966:
- Saturday, May 7th, Mayor's Assembly at McCormick Place from 8am until noon. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Transportation can be obtained at the 14th District.
- Tuesday, May 17th, the Mayor will be attending a positive loitering march in Beat 1422 at 6pm. Interested participants are encouraged to join the Mayor on this walk.
- Alderman Flores is planning a positive loitering march between the 1st and 2nd week of June within Beat 1431.
- Wednesday, June 8th there will be a workshop on domestic violence

SECTION 1
1) The Principal from Chase School claimed that the gang threat of violence diminished over the last month and police were doing an effective job of dispersing gang members loitering around the school.
2) The 2000 block of Bingham St. continues to be active with criminal gang activity. 2113 Bingham was reported to have gang activity occurring in front of the property.
3) A street light between 2113 and 2119 Bingham has been out due to vandalism. The light has been on and off on numerous occasions.
4) Street lights on Stave to Attrill have been on and off consistently over the last month due to tampering. During an outage last month, street permit parking signs on the 2100 block of Stave were removed by vandals. New permit signs have yet to be installed. Residents are suggesting that the city securely anchor the signs in concrete to prevent further vandalism.
5) Ricky Vasquez was arrested the evening of April 12th for "aggravated battery" in his participation of a shooting on Armitage involving a 14 year old boy.
action: Again, Bingham and Stave streets remain a consistent area of reported criminal activity and require continued police attention and calls to 911. Streets and Sanitation need to adjust the height of the electrical boxes for the street lights to make their vandalism more difficult.

SECTION 2
1) Gang violence and activity was reportedly increasing on the corners of McLean and Campbell, and McLean and Western.
2) A resident reported a possible gang related brutal beating involving baseball bats against an African American man occurring around 5:30pm on McLean during a weekday last month. The beating took place before police and fire crews arrived on the scene.
3) A resident police officer reportedly shot and wounded one or more homeless individuals who had cornered and threatened him with makeshift weapons when asked to leave his property.
action: Police and residents to focus attention on increasing gang activity and violence along McLean Avenue West to Western.

SECTION 3 & 4
1) Latin Lover gang activity was reported on Medill near Washtenaw over the last month.
2) Corner house at Medill and Washtenaw with basketball hoop in alley has been attracting gang loitering and tagging of garages down the block. This house is apparently where 2 gang members known as "Tank" and "Loonie" reside.
3) Numerous incidences of drinking in cars, littering of beer bottles and vandalized cars on Medill near Washtenaw were also reported for the month.
4) Gang loitering on Talman between Belden and Lyndale behind Goethe Elementary remains an ongoing problem especially during the afternoons and early evenings.
5) The light brown multi-unit apartment building on the southwest corner of Belden and Washtenaw was tagged with Spanish Lords graffiti, Saturday, April 23rd.
6) Residents of the Brauhaus condominium complex on the corner of Belden and Washtenaw reported that a homeless person is living behind their building.
7) There were reported incidences of drinking alcohol in cars on Belden between Washtenaw and Talman. Residents were encouraged to report these incidences by calling 911.
action:Residents are encouraged to perform positive loitering to disperse gang loitering in area and to establish 911 phone trees.

SECTION 5 & 6
1) The Misala "restaurant" will be losing it's liquor license for at least a year having defaulted on their court appearance last month. The building, corner of Fullerton and Rockwell, appears to be for sale.
2) There was a report that a nanny had her wallet stolen out of her stroller while she played with the child she was caring for at Haas Park during daytime hours.
3) A fire was set to a wooden fence in this area but was extinguished by firemen. The cause of the fire may have been gang related.
4) For another month, 2448 Rockwell continues to be a hotspot for drug and gang activity due to new tenants known for past drug activity. This property was reported last month to Beat officer Ken Trempe who was very familiar with the new tenants as drug dealers. This activity has increased drug and gang activity from Rockwell to Artesian.
5) The Cheerios gang continues to terrorize the 2400 block of Artesian, known offenders include Ricky Fisher and Ivan Bermudez among others.
action: 2448 Rockwell and Cheerios gang demand police action.


Recurring Problem Areas for BEAT 1431
1) Gangs and drug activity and street light outings in Section 1 remain a consistent, ongoing problem
2) Gang activity in Section 2 on the 2400 block of McLean.
3) Gang activity in Section 4 within and surrounding Goethe Elementary School.
4) Gang and drug activities in Section 6

DISCLAIMER
Beat 1431 CAPs volunteers prepared these meeting minutes to the best of their ability.